East Aurora Advertiser

Springtime is Lyme Disease Time


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How small are deer ticks? About the size of a poppy seed! 

How small are deer ticks? About the size of a poppy seed! 

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<p dir=”ltr”><span>We all love spring! Fresh air, sunshine, baby birds, fresh flowers, emerging tree leaves, fish are spawning and much more. But there is one thing we all need to know when heading outdoors this year. If you’re fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, just walking your dog in the village park, and if you have deer that cross your yard, you and yours are a target for Lyme disease.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>Deer ticks are the transfer agent for Lyme to humans, but they are so small they are nearly invisible. Deer ticks have existed through eons of time, but now 1 in 3 carry Lyme disease. Given that each tick lays about 3,000 eggs, this makes Lyme an endemic for the northeast.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>The tiny, eyeless arachnids get the disease from mice. Get rid of your mice. Deer ticks and other ticks survive by obtaining a blood meal once every six months or so, until they are about two years old. When a meal comes from a white-footed mouse, the tick is infected with Lyme disease and other co-infections, which can be far more debilitating than Lyme. When that same tick bites a human, that person is infected.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>Deer ticks have no eyes, so how do they find us? They have carbon dioxide detectors and they sense warm-blooded critters (like dogs, cats, other animals, and people) up to a mile away. They crawl to a spot often about 6 to 24 inches off the ground, then await their prey to pass by and brush against the grass or plant in order to latch onto unprotected clothing or skin. Once on board, they crawl around, find a soft often shaded area of skin (under hairlines, in/behind ears, navels, crooks of limbs, groin, in between toes), and painlessly burrow in for about 24 hours, sucking a tiny amount of blood as their survival meal and exchanging their fluid serums during contact. If they have Lyme disease, then you will have it too.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>How to prevent getting bit requires your personal attention to details before going outside and even more after returning inside. Spray the outside of your clothing with Permethrin (Sawyer Products) the day before heading outdoors. Apply a fairly heavy film and let it dry overnight. This application is good for about six or seven washings or 45 days. On your exposed skin, apply a light coating of Picaridin (Sawyer Products). With either of these, the deer ticks will get hot feet and drop off or, even better, die on contact. For humans and pets, dead deer ticks are good deer ticks (my view).</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>If you are wary of chemical applications to your skin and clothes, there is a chemical-free wearable product called Rynoskin. It has the texture of a nylon stocking, but it is breathable and is available in colors of your choice. A must have for turkey hunters and researchers in the field. A suit of Rynoskin comes with socks, lowers, uppers, gloves and a hoodie. The whole suit weighs about four or five ounces. With the most recent onset of Lyme disease predictions for 2018,</span> <span>do not</span> <span>go turkey hunting without protection.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>With whatever manner of protection you choose, when you return to the indoors, inspect yourself. Look for a tick that might have escaped your protections. They will usually be found on soft skin, under your arms, nape of your neck, groin area and similar areas. Make this a habit if you are outdoors frequently. If you find a tick that is burrowed in, get to a doctor as soon as possible and have the tick removed and sent for analysis to identify if the tick has Lyme or not. In the meantime, take no chances, ask for treatment. The usual treatment prescribed by medical staff familiar with successful Lyme treatments is a strong antibiotic called doxycycline for a period of about 28 days or so. Many New York State doctors will not readily prescribe this treatment without the lab results first, which complicates things and may allow the disease to gain a foothold. Insist on treating prophylactically. Do not wait for symptoms. Tick testing is 99 percent accurate. If your tick comes back negative for Lyme, you can stop treatment. If it’s positive, you will beat it.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>Lyme disease is a slow killer. Studies show that the disease can mutate and become infallible to treatment and cure if not killed within the first 30 days or so. The disease mimics about 300 other maladies such as chronic arthritis, ALS, Bels Palsy, Alzheimer’s, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, MS and many others.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>In many recent cases, folks are treated for these “other diseases” when they in fact have Lyme disease. You can see why this disease is a bad thing. It’s hard to recognize. What to do? Beg your doctor to send your blood work to Igenex Labs in California, they have the most experience in detecting the onset and stage severity of Lyme.</span>

<p dir=”ltr”><span>The number one way for ticks to find you is from your pet bringing them inside your home. These little deer tick critters are usually in grasses and on knee-high bushes, but they can be anywhere. Enjoy our wonderful spring, get rid of your garage-bound mice and go protected if you are an outdoors person! Inspect yourself, your kids and your pets frequently. For more info, visit www.tickencounter.org.</span>

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<p dir=”ltr”><em>Share life with others, make new friends in the outdoors, lead by example. Send comments to nugdor@yahoo.com.</em>

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